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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-8-17, Page 12• Page 14 t Times -Advocate, August 17,1 N • Hockey schoo This Week ports... Local golf results - page 15 Soccer season continues - page 16 is really a camp by Fred G roves Success continues to follow Randy Johnson What's next for Randy John- son. The South Huron District High School graduate recently added another gold medal to his collection as he won the javelin competition at the Ontario Sum- mer Games. His future could hold what many young Canadian athletes hope for, a scholarship to an American university. ""There's a school in Illinois, Lewis University, and the coach has offered me an 80 percent scholarship. I'm going for a visit in January," said Johnson just a few hours after he returned from Nepean. He's been accepted to Fan- shawe in London but definitely wants to try the U.S. college route and maybe compete in the National Collegiate Athletic As- sociation championships. Johnson says he'll go down to Illinois but can only stay on campus for 48 hours without los- ing his eligibility to choose an- other school at another time if he so desires. In Nepean he won the event with a toss of 55 metres, but it was with an injury and a differ- ent style of javelin than what he threw when he was in high school. "I didn't throw real great. I had an ankle injury and I couldn't get my plant foot down." In June, he launched the jav- elin 62.74 metres not only to set a personal best, but win gold at the OFSAA senior boys cham- pionships. He explained the javelins in high school and at the Summer Games are quite differ- ent. "These are modified javelins, they don't go as far. There's more weight on the end." Training with two types of javelins, switching from high school to the club competitions is something which hopefully will be avoided for other ath- letes. "They are going to in the next couple of years," said Johnson of the high school adapting the modified javelin. "They have to- tally different flying patterns." Johnson is a confident young man who has looked towards be- ing the best javelin thrower in the province and he's done that. Hopefully with a scholarship, he'll be able to go even farther. From the sidelines:...A few days before he left for Texas and the American Junior Quarte- rhorse Association champion- ships, Zurich's Andrew Geiger was a little worried about the' performance of his horse, Final Cheque. The worrying stopped when they were in the pole - bending event as the duo rose to the occasion and won third out of 66 entrants. Andrew missed second place by 45 hundredths of a gond,,. Paul O'Shea, a Lucan Minor Hockey Association product and now with the St. Marys Junior 'B' Lincolns, chats with players during last week's Shamrock Hockey School in Lucan. By Fred Groves T -A staff LUCAN - Hockey school or hockey camp. The two names are quite different and for the past 10 years, the Lucan Arena has been the home of the Shamrock Hockey School. How- ever, as pointed out by director Rick Abel, it's definitely a camp. Last week at the Science Hill camp ground near St. Marys, camp- ers from Philadelphia, Port Dover, Cleveland and Teeswater took up residence in what has truly become a family vacation. "One of the programs we have is a family camp program. They bring the whole family, it's a holiday," said Abel. "They're from all over North America, they've been com- ing here for six years." The group that was at the camp ground last week have been plan- ning their hockey holiday since June and one group from Teeswater even brought a hot tub. "We have an open camp fire Sun- day night where we explain the rules. We had a golf tournament on Tuesday and had 12 foursomes," said Abel. From pig roasts and bowling to golf and day care, Abel has tumed the school into a camping vacation. "We've been doing this for 10 years and it just grew and grew." One of the young campers last week was 14 year-old Chris Strau- bel from Philadelphia who has been coming to the Shamrock Hockey School for the past five years. He brings several of his teammates with him to Lucan. "This is my fifth year. It's a good hockey school, they don't yell and they have a lot of patience," said the left winger. And how do his parents feel about spending a hockey holiday? "They like meeting new friends. They look forward to it every year." Local instructors: The Sham- rock Hockey School, which is wrapping up it's third of three week-long sessions doesn't really go out and get big -name NHL stars to come and be guest instructors. Three times a week pro goalie Jeff Resse of the Hartford Whalers who has been coming to the camp since he was 16, helps out with the netminders. Abel feels he gets a lot of quality instruction from young local players such as Lucan Minor Hock- ey Association products Paul O'Shea, Derek Greenlee and Jer- emy Jemec. O'Shea just finished an excellent rookie season with the St. Marys Junior 'B' Lincolns while Greenlee and Jemec are with the Lucan Irish of the OHA Junior Development r League. Abel explained the players in his camp get 12 -and -a -half hours of ice team each week along with video reviews, and recreation time which included bowling, ball hockey and swimming. "We're a camp that offers hockey. In the 10th year you know when to back off," he said of what to offer the players and what not to. "We ask the kids what they want to do, we give them some input." Hockey in the summer is not for everyone. Some parents think it's a good idea and others think it's not necessary. "1 have a daughter who wants to come for all three weeks and a son that says no he doesn't want to," said Abel. Computer makes scoring easy All three flights at Ironwood tournament had tie -breakers By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - Golf has gone com- puterized in Exeter. Last Wednesday at the annual Ironwood Invitational Golf Tourna- ment, official scorers were able to call upon the help of a computer to keep a very close tab on the 144 golfers. "Once you've got the guys in (to the computer) with their handicaps it puts in their net and gross scores, it does everything," said Gib Dow, Jr. of Ironwood who was one of the scorers. Wednesday was the second time this year the computer was used as it was first utilized for the 144 - player Shriners Tournament earlier this summer. The computer is used by the Iron- wood members who can not only get a look at their own scores and handicaps but they at kecp tabs on other players as well. "The members put their code in and put in their score. It keeps a running tab on their handicaps, there's about 350 handicaps in there." When golfers arrived at Iron- wood on Wednesday the first thing they had to do after registering was to report what their current handi- cap is. One golfer said he didn't know what it was but said, "it's in the computer." "They have to have an accurate handicap to be in a tournament," said Dow. Tie -breakers: The finish of this year's Ironwood Invitational was very exciting as two golfers in the 'A' flight played four playoff holes to determine the winner while two each in the 'B' and 'C' flights played one hole. Winning the 'A' was Bill Carriere who, along with Cam Doig, shot a one over 72 but Carriere won in the extra holes. Dave Holtzmann, de- spite having a hole -in -one on the par 3 13th, was two back of the leaders. Holtzmann won $180 on the hole as it was sponsored by United Way which split the proceeds with whoever got a hole -in -one on the 13th. Also finishing up at 74 were Tony Greideau and Dave Young. A year ago, Doig won the tournament with a' 68 while Holtzmann was second with a 71. In the 'B' flight, Peter Campbell won in the tie-breaker as he and Ed Parkinson both shot 76. Leo Grei- dcau beat Derek Poole in the 'C' flight, both had 86. What's Slope: Golf courses in Canada have a new method of rat- ing course and it's called the Slope system. "The old rating was the average score (at the course)," said Dow. Now, although it will take many golfers a while to figure it out, the Slope system seems to be a little fairer, especially for those who go to a tournament and play against unknown golfers. Slope refers to the line on a graph showing how player's scores go up as course difficulty increases. Slope still depends greatly on the length of the course but also takes into ac- count several other factors in- cluding trees, water and bunkers. 'Dave Holtzmann lines up a day's Ironwood Invitational. hole. - putt during action at last Wednes- He had a hole -in -one on the 13th Jean Shep- pard, left; Bert Steenhuis and Jean Nisbet won gold med- als at the dis- trict games and will now had to Sudbu- ry to represent Grand Cove Estates at the Ontario Senior Games. Local seniors off to Ontario Games GRAND BEND - Although it is competition, the seriousness doesn't seem to surround it. Thursday afternoon over 30 people from Grand Cove Estates gath- ered for a reception to congratulate three of its residents who have qualified for the Ontario Senior Games later this month i- Sudbury. There were smiles and pats -on -the -back and the mood of those who attended seemed to be not one of 'go and win' but good luck and have a good time. Set to make the trip are Jean Nisbet, Bert Steenhuis and Jean Sheppard who all won gold medals in 10 -pin bowling at the recent Strathroy district games. Since there is no 10 -pin bowling lanes in the area, the trio had to drive to London to get on the lanes and get in some practicing. "These people went all out to practice. The three of them jump in the car and head to London. We're very proud of them," said Bud Andrews the co-ordinator of the Grand Cove Estates seniors group. The Ontario Senior Games called Actifest will also have Lucan's Gordon Club and Stella Fisher playing darts and Parkhill's Robert Morton, golf; Everett Richardson. golf; and Edward Harmer, snook- er.